Dupont says road dust is not a 'huge health problem'

To the editor,

I'm not good on the computer, but even I know how to access medical information, including health effects of road dust on living, breathing people! Jim Dupont's recent statement regarding road dust not being a "huge health problem" and his half-hearted attempt in "searching the Internet to prove (dust) correlation" just makes me want to laugh. Who is he trying to snow? Google any medical issue, including road dust problems, and you will find a (I believe the word is plethora) of information on the issue. With the huge problem of road dust in this county, I just cannot believe Jim Dupont would make such a statement. He can check with the Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Those folks have a pretty good idea of the effects of road dust. Not too hard to do.

With all the important issues for a candidate to answer, especially the prevailing candidate, I'm sure Jim Dupont is not the man for the job. He has spent a lifetime dealing with criminals within the law enforcement society. I think he will view the rest of us as suspects, and not neighbors or decent citizens. My fear is his career change would not benefit us. He doesn't seem to be helping his own neighbors with road dust issues, even though I have tried many times to elicit his input and help.

This is just a little problem. How are you going to handle the big problems? I guess he wants everyone to move and not solve the problem. People bring problems, you have to solve them not move. The problem is still there for the next person. Where is your reasoning?

Catherine Richter

West Glacier

It's time to renew awareness of the 'American Dream'

To the editor,

Thank you, Don Sullivan and Bill Breen, for leading out on the unbelievable inequity for valley citizens, that this paving of the North Fork Road represents. It seems clear that business interests of the privileged few are once again driving the local agenda, and making free with local tax payer's money to do so.

I hope local citizens have enough leverage to control the greedy, self serving coalition of politicos-bankers-developers that have shepherded this covert and misrepresented plan on behalf of the wealthy entrepreneurs of the area. Those who use the "trickle-down" theory to defend the creation of wealth for the wealthy, need to trickle down a little faster; the chasm between the rich and poor, the disproportionate distribution of prosperity in this country has never been so great since the late 1900s the era of conspicuous consumption when wealthy robber barons lived like kings, and the ordinary citizens of the country, the working class, lived in tenements, died early, and never had a fair chance to raise their standard of living for themselves or their children, except by criminal means.

It is time to reassess, redefine and renew the awareness of what the "American Dream" means to today's American people. We don't want a third-world nation model, where a few powerful and wealthy individuals own almost everything, while many have very little or nothing. There has to be a balance struck between enterprise as a pirate understands it, with no holds barred, and fair play for all.

Carol Edwards

ADM does not endorse candidates

To the editor,

According to a recent letter to the editor by a Gary Hall supporter, Jim Dupont is, "…backed by the American Dream Coalition." And, "…this group is a close ally to Mr. Dupont." I assume the lady who wrote the letter was referring to the organization I chair, American Dream Montana (ADM).

I would like to set the record straight. ADM is a property rights organization that takes no positions on individual candidates and political races. ADM was formed to educate the public and "public policy makers" on important planning and property rights issues.

Unfortunately, during the past several years right up to the present, the continuous and continuing diminishment of our individual property rights by the policies of this county government and its out-of-control planning bureaucracy has kept us busier than we would like to be! And as they say, with the county's new "Critical Areas Ordinance" coming up, "you ain't seen nothing yet."

While ADM does not and will not endorse candidates, I will admit, however, that on a personal level I tend to give high marks to any candidate running for public office that places "repeated emphasis on property rights," something the letter-writer objected to about Jim Dupont.

Given Gary Hall's past and present dismal record on property rights in Flathead County, as a Hall supporter I can understand her objection to Dupont's emphasis on protecting property rights. Hall certainly has nothing to run on in that regard.

Russell Crowder

Marion

'Cross over' when you're voting for county commissioner

To the editor,

Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Green or whatever your party affiliation, there seems to be a common disenchantment with the performance of county government in the Flathead. Many of us citizens have written Op-Eds enumerating all the problems at some great length for the past six years.

Gary Hall has not represented us well in his six years as Flathead County Commissioner and it is time for a change in order to allow someone with new, better ideas a chance at serving our community.

We have two new candidates, Jim Dupont (R) and Steve Qunell (D), who have very impressive credentials performing government service in Flathead County. Let's give them the chance to compete for the job of Flathead County Commissioner.

We can all do that by "crossing over" and joining with the Republicans and voting in their primary June 3 for Jim Dupont. This is a perfectly valid, legal, strategic way to vote. Simply request a Republican ballot at your voting precinct. Steve Qunell is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Most of the primary races, for parties other than Republican, have candidates running unopposed. The notable exception is on the Democratic ticket for president. But does it really matter who one votes for there? They are so equal, either one will do. Not to mention it is a foregone conclusion who will win the most delegates to the Democratic national convention, anyway. Your vote will not matter. And, the Flathead County Commissioner job has a greater impact on all of our daily lives. We should focus on the Republican primary election.

When the general election rolls around on Nov. 4, we can choose sides and vote for either Jim Dupont or Steve Qunell. It will guarantee us a new county commissioner.

Bill Baum

Badrock Canyon

Secret talks on private access

Recent secret talks between Plum Creek Timber and the U. S. Forest Service have been raising as many issues as eyebrows recently. The topic of the talks, according to those who will say anything about them, is to renegotiate the terms of Plum Creek's easements through Forest Service land. Many think the purpose is to increase access to thousands of acres of land that Plum Creek would like to develop as real estate.

Plum Creek is being coy about its future plans for its land, saying that when they have come to a definitive decision they will let us know. But they have already made a decision, definitive or not, since they have let their shareholders know they estimate them making $320 million to $340 million on real estate sales this year. They have a track record of developing backcountry areas. In Maine they bought 900,000 acres from a paper company and are putting in a 14,000-acre subdivision on and around remote Moosehead Lake.

Plum Creek has a couple of distinct advantages over us mere mortals; they have more clout with the Forest Service than we do, and they can sell an identical parcel of land for less money than we can and still make a better profit.

The first advantage is basically because of their size — they are the largest private landowner in the state, and the Forest Service has to go through Plum Creek land to get to Federal land. The second advantage is their unique income tax status — they don't pay any. That affords them the potential to sell land at a lower price and higher profit than can other corporations or individuals.

When you or I sell a house or a piece of property, we pay tax to Montana on the profit. Plum Creek doesn't because they enjoy the special tax status of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Except for REITs, all corporations and individuals pay tax in the state where they make their profits. REITs are able to avoid that by passing the tax costs on to their investors. So almost all of taxes on a profit made in Montana are paid to the states treasuries of those states where Plum Creek shareholders live such as Connecticut, New York, and California.

Plum Creek is the latest in a string of owners of Federal land originally granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad by Congress in 1864. The grant was to raise money for the railroad to build the transcontinental line from Minneapolis to Seattle because banks were not willing or capable of financing such huge and risky enterprises. (The railroad defaulted on the terms of the agreement twice in the first 15 years.) Nationally, the land grant was comprised of 39 million acres. Today, about 1.25 million acres in Montana remain in the ownership of one of the successors to the Northern Pacific — Plum Creek Timber.

Imagine a giant checkerboard with its red and black squares stretching 50 miles north and 50 miles south of the Yellowstone and Clark Fork rivers. The Northern Pacific was given ownership of the imaginary red squares and the federal government retained control of the imaginary black squares; setting up the beginning of a giant game of checkers which is currently being played behind closed doors.

Much of what is left of the checkerboard is in the timbered part of Montana, and it has been to the mutual benefit of the Forest Service and Plum Creek to grant easements to each other so they could access their respective parcels for timber management. A lot of the Plum Creek land is some pretty spectacular stuff, and in the past decade it has become far more valuable as real estate than for timber production. To that end Plum Creek has been negotiating better access to the more valuable parcels.

So what's the uproar? Well the counties, whose taxpayers are the ones who will eventually pick up the tab for the services for these subdivisions, are being kept out of the loop. Contrary to popular opinion, not to mention logic, the taxes that new developments generate do not come close to covering the costs of providing service to those subdivisions, (Gallatin County pays out $1.35 in services for every tax dollar brought in by new development) and the more remote the development, the more costly the bill.

Added to this list of concerns are increased costs of fire protection service to remote homesites, the effect on wildlife populations and diminished access for hunters and outdoor recreationists.

What it boils down to is that some pretty important decisions about Montana's future are being made behind closed doors, and they are being made by the two largest landowners in the state of Montana, the Federal Government and Plum Creek Timber, REIT. It's simple: We don't have a say, we don't get the taxes, but we do get the consequences.

Jim Elliott is a state senator from Trout Creek in his 16th year of legislative service, and is chairman of the Senate Taxation Committee.